Witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, is probably more familiar as a nice smelling astringent cleanser used cosmetically. I even know of at least a couple of guys that use it as a frugal alternative to aftershave although my tongue in cheek (pun unintended) reaction to that revelation was wondering whether to consider it an endorsement or a disclaimer. The plant itself is usually a large shrub or occasionally a small tree considering that Alabama has co-champions that are respectively 32 and 26 feet tall, 12 and 14 inches around, and with average limb spreads of 29 and 22 inches resulting in point totals of 51 and 46 where co-champions are within 5 points of each other although this case resulted from rounding error. The trees often grow on stream banks and lean over the water thus skewing the score of potentially more massive specimens. This is one of the only plants that blooms late in the autumn just as or after the leaves fall. The flowers have 4 long narrow and somewhat twisted petals where large numbers can be quite a show. It takes nearly a year for the fruit to ripen and when it does it dehisces explosively shooting the single seed several feet. I have considered wearing safety glasses when I expect to be in the vicinity of several plants at that time of the year especially if collecting seed.